Flinders Street Driver Blames Actions On Muslim Mistreatment

Newsroom

Posted on December 22, 2017
by Olivia Esveld

Police have this morning confirmed that the man responsible for ploughing an SUV into pedestrians in Melbourne's CBD yesterday has blamed the poor treatment of Muslims as part of the reason for his actions.

"He made a number of utterances in respect to dreams and voices, but also attributing his actions relative to concerns for the treatment of Muslims," said Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton on Channel Seven's Sunrise Program.

"We are obviously going to be exploring the entirety of these matters when set against the backdrop of the circumstances I have outlined to see what the actual cause, the motivation of this, is."

The man in question, a 32-year-old Australian man of Afghan descent has a history of mental illness and drug use, and was known to authorities.

He is still waiting to undergo a psychological assessment.

Police say that there is currently no increased threat to the public as they continue their investigations this morning.